We only picked smartphones made by well-known companies. Devices that we actually reviewed - thus spending enough time with them before deciding that they’re inferior to the majority of handsets out there. While devices that we recommend buying normally get ratings from 8 to 10 in our reviews, the smartphones seen below received ratings from 4 to 5.5. We ordered them from the highest rating to the lowest, so the worst of the worst is the last one on the list. This being said, check them all out, and let us know if there are other not-so-desirable handsets that you think we should've included here.

07. Samsung Galaxy Ace Style

While Samsung launched a lot of great smartphones throughout the years, its portfolio is so vast that it also contains pretty bad offerings - and the Galaxy Ace Style is one of them. Yes, the Ace Style is an affordable handset, retailing for about $170, but it just doesn’t mange to offer what other similarly priced devices do. This Style isn’t really stylish, as its plastic case feels cheap. The 4-inch WVGA display is anything but great (most of its colors are off), while TouchWiz UI feels sluggish - likely because there’s only 512MB of RAM. On the plus side, the Galaxy Ace Style runs Android 4.4 KitKat.

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06. Sony Xperia E1

Sony’s Xperia E1 could have been a very nice little smartphone, as it features a dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor, a 100 dB loudspeaker, and a dedicated Walkman key. Unfortunately, the handset comes with a low-quality plastic build, a washed-out 4-inch WVGA display, a disappointing photo camera, only 512MB of RAM, and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The price that Sony is asking for the Xperia E1 ($160 - $200) isn’t justified, considering all the downsides of the device.

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05. Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo

Significantly larger than the Galaxy Ace Style mentioned above, the Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo is an affordable 5-inch smartphone. The problem is that, although its screen is quite large, its WVGA resolution translates into a 168 ppi density - so you’ll actually see each pixel on this display. If Motorola can offer a handset with a 720p display for less than $200, we don’t understand why Samsung is asking around $270 for the Grand Neo.

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04. Sony Xperia M2

The Xperia M2 isn’t a terrible smartphone per se. In fact, it manages to offer a record-setting battery life, so it should be among your top choices if you care about battery life so much as to disregard the handset’s shortcomings. Though you’d better hear about these first. The M2 offers an unacceptable call quality, sub-par photo and video camera, Android Jelly Bean, and a mediocre 4.8-inch display with 540 x 960 pixels - all in a package that costs $330 - $400. Needless to say, you can find plenty of other better handsets in that price range.

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03. Alcatel OneTouch Idol Alpha

While previous Alcatel OneTouch Idol models are offering a lot of bang for the buck, that’s definitely not the case with the OneTouch Idol Alpha. Granted, this is a unique smartphone, featuring transparent layers of plastic at the top and bottom. However, that alone doesn’t justify the $400+ price that Alcatel is asking for the handset - not when Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and a pretty weak MediaTek processor are included.

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02. Nokia X

Launched by Nokia in February as its very first Android-based smartphone, the Nokia X is an entry-level device made for emerging markets, so perhaps we shouldn't complain too much about it. But we have to, because i's disappointing in too many areas: there's no Google Play access, the display is weak, the camera won't let you truly enjoy your photos, and the overall performance is frustrating. Microsoft and Nokia indirectly acknowledged that the Nokia X isn't too appealing, thus releasing a successor to it - the Nokia X2 - four months after the X hit the market.

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01. HTC Desire 310

The Desire 310 is one of HTC's latest affordable smartphones, and yet it's still way too expensive for what it's offering. The handset's 4.5-inch (480 x 854 pixels) is terrible in every of its aspects, the earpiece is shockingly bad, the camera produces weak results, and the interface is an odd blending of stock Android and Sense UI. Moreover, the Desire 310 feels chunky in the hand. All in all, this is certainly not what a $200 smartphone should be.

because it works... it may not have all the bells and whistles but Android is where it is because of the iPhone.. its still a solid device with a large ecosystem why would phonearena have to talk badly about it.. there is no S5 or any other flagship on this list these are mid range phones.. the iPhone was released last year.

"Worst phone at it's price" is the subject, of course... It's pretty ridiculous that you should be ignored for a list like this just because you don't release budget phones... Actually, it just shows that flagship phones generally get better reviews, without taking their price into account.

Perhaps a different poll about best smartphone company, with a huge negative score for NOT releasing a budget smartphone for those with limited means...?

Samsung's and HTC's mid-low range devices is really dismal. People are waking up to the fact a smartphone with decent features really shouldn't cost so much thanks to the several chinese brands and Motorola.

Both of them should really stop milking customers with their Galaxy and Desire branding.

All of the Notes are ugly and people look stupid holding on to something that covers 3/4 of their face. The GS5 could have had a bigger screen if they just do what LG is doing with the bezels. Theres no need for Phablets. People just made it ok for manufactures to not improve on the current flagships. Now they have Apple joining the phablet game and theres no need for it. All they had to do on the 4.7 verison was shrink the top bezel and the sides and it could have been bigger than 5.0. Theu should have kept to one phone every year and make the best looking phone.

Well, that's it folks. Derekjeter has spoken. There is no need for phablets. All you people who have bought one are fools. All you people who are planning to buy one are idiots. Apple is stupid for following the trend.

Thank goodness we have geniuses like Derekjeter to tell us when we buy things we shouldn't.

Lol that comment made no sense at all. Also Notes are not just about large screens, It will take another 3 years for apple to match half of Note 3's functionality. Also ultra thin bezels don't help ergonomics at all. Also Sorry about your girly hands :)

If you look at Samsung's family tree, you could see that the phones at the top (S5, Note3, etc.) are one of the best. But try to look at the bottom and you'll see Samsung's mid and low end phones are one worst phones.

Why is there so much hate on the 5C. Its just an iP5 which was a good phone in a 3GS casing basically. Samsung and Nokia release nothing but plastic phones and I see the same people bashing the 5C not bashing those phones.

First, read the title, they said worst phones from 2014.
Second, You said you don't care about Samsung, yet you pointed about them here.
Third, you said you don't know about Samsung's handsets, yet you called out 4 galaxies in your comment.
EPIC FAIL comment bro. :)

Sorry but PhoneArena and GsmArena gave Z2 a higher rating. S5 went for gimmicks instead of true innovation. If you look at the sales in the other hand, Samsung has an excellent department in sales and psychology. They know how simple and dull the average smartphone shopper is

According to CNET, Laptopmag, TechRadar and Tom's Guide (those were all on the first page of the search "best smartphone"), it's perched on top of the iPhone 5s. According to most other sites its firmly in the top 5.

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